HYLONOME AND CYLLARUS

MYTHOLOGY

In his "Metamorphoses", Ovid paints a picture of the beauty and tragedy of a Centaurean love story:

"[In the battle of the Kentauroi and Lapithes:] Nor did his beauty ransom [centaur] Cyllarus, fighting that day, if hybrids such as he be granted beauty. His beard was just beginning, a golden beard, and golden tresses fell down on his shoulders reaching to his flanks. High-mettled grace shone in his face; his neck, chest, shoulders, hands and every manly part seemed like a sculptor’s much-praised masterpiece. Unblemished too his equine shape, nor less fine than his man’s. With horse’s head and neck he’s make fit mount for Castor, so high stood his chest-muscles, so rideable his back. Jet black he was, the whole of him, save that his tail was white and legs were milk-white too. Many a centauress would be his mate, but one had gained his heart, [she-centaur] Hylonome. In the high woods there was none comelier of all the centaur-girls, and she alone by love and love’s sweet words and winning ways held Cyllarus, yes, and the care she took to look her best (so far as that may be with limbs like that). She combed her glossy hair, and twined her curls in turn with rosemary or violets or roses, and sometimes she wore a pure white lily. Twice a day she bathed her face in the clear brook that fell from Pagasae’s high forest, twice she plunged her body in its flow, nor would she wear on her left side and shoulder any skin but what became her from best-chosen beasts. Their love was equal; on the hills they roamed together, and together they would go back to their cave; and this time too they went into the Lapithae’s palace side by side and side by side were fighting in the fray. A javelin (no knowing from whose hand) came from the left and wounded Cyllarus, landing below the place where the chest joins neck – slight wound, but when the point was pulled away, cold grew his damaged heart and cold his limbs. Hylonome embraced him as he died, caressed the wound and, putting lips to lips, she tried to stay his spirit as it fled. And when she saw him lifeless, she moaned words that in that uproar failed to reach my ears; and fell upon the spear that pierced her love, and, dying, held her husband in her arms."

So intimately are these two involved, whenever they are mentioned in myths, that perhaps we should always study them together astrologically as well.

ASTRONOMY

Hylonome was discovered on February 27, 1995 at 4 Libra 42. It has an orbit of approximately 126 years, and this orbit is not too eccentric as Centaurs go. At perihelion it almost reaches the orbit of Uranus, while at aphelion it goes just past Neptune's orbit.

Cyllarus was discovered on October 12, 1998 at 18 Tau 34. Its orbit, at around 134 years, is a bit more eccentric. It, too, almost reaches the orbit of Uranus at perihelion, but goes out past both Neptune and Pluto at aphelion.

It is not surprising that both bodies were discovered in a Venus-ruled sign, since it is their love for each other which stands out most in their stories.

ASTROLOGY

There are three glyphs currently in circulation for Hylonome:

This glyph was designed by Zane B Stein

This is an alternate glyph

From 1931-1983, these two bodies moved in and out of exact opposition 53 times, and were in orb of opposition for a good portion of this interval. So we can study the charts of people born during these intervals to see how these two bodies interact. Here are the degrees of the exact oppositions, and the dates they took place. (Date format: Day/Month/Year):

Unfortunately, we do not have current examples of a Hylonome/Cyllarus conjunction. Between 1843 and the present, the two have never been in conjunction, nor in square. But we have a number of dates in the past 200 years when they were in Quincunx, and in trine:

We have a lot of studying to do to understand what these bodies mean to us, both individually, and as a pair. Here are a few suggested interepretations of Hylonome:

Juan Revilla writes: "death song, war song, heroism, sacrifice. eternal youth, longing for Paradise, lost innocence. the sacrificial victim. purity, tragic beauty, redemption. the cry of the poor. political and religious messianism. the virgin and the prostitute. the voice and the cry of animals. the fallen heroes in battle. monuments, memorials"

Mark Andrew Holmes writes: "an exceptional need for acceptance, a self-opinion of unworthiness, pathos, devotion, the ability to evoke sympathy or empathy, an increase in the emotional gradient of a situation, the perception of attractiveness, misfortune or helplessness, the desire to protect, defend or help others, fastidiousness, naivete, softheartedness, catholic tastes and interests, a bent toward "naturalness" and environmentalism, an interest in fashion and adornment, criticism of others to appear good or strong, ability to help others through self-criticism, self-deprecation, dealing with grief and loss, and feminism in sexual partnership, without rejection or antipathy of males".

There may be connections with these bodies, and unfortunate deaths happening way too young, as well as perhaps with suicide (especially due to a broken heart). A lot more research is necessary, that's for sure!

"According to dynamical systems theory, all centaurs are chaotic, but Cyllarus (and his group), has a high Lyapunov exponent, because of the high contrast between the total chaos of Uranus and fixed schemes and procedures of the classical Kuiper belt objects.
"When things have been runing in a fixed direction for a long time, seems very hard to stop or revert that tendency. Cyllarus has the ability to change fixed tendencies in a amazing way, like the George-Biff relation in the movie "Back to the Future" (1985) or John Connor resistence in the war aganist the machines ("Terminator", 1984). Also, the acceptance of women in the army in the movie "Mulan" (Disney, 1998) or the liberation of slaves in the movie "Prince of Egipt" (1998).
"Like all transformations of chaotic atractors (plutinos, scattered disc objects, centaurs, as well as the Sun and Venus), they took a long time of unoticed changes, before the rapid and strong changes start. In the specific case of Cyllarus this strong changes are preceded by some sort of natural accident or obstacle, like in the movie "Mulan" (Disney, 1998), or "The Prince of Egipt" (Dream Works, 1998). Both, Cyllarus and Amycus, have a perihelion approaching Saturn, but Amycus is a bit closer (1 UA).
"Rumiko Takahashi (writer of the japanese manga "Ranma 1/2") has Cyllarus (conjunct Bienor) in Cancer in the Crossing Point of the Age Progressions (Moon-Node Horoscope / Basis Horoscope)."